The Software Technology Evaluation Process – Online Best Practices, Tools & Templates

Software Technology Evaluation is a process used to determine the best internal or third party technology to use in a software development project.

When conducting a Software Technology Evaluation to determine whether to build or buy technology for a software development project, a best practice is to conduct high level research to explore a wide variety of options, based upon criteria such as: Cost (to develop or purchase/license), Features, Maturity/Stability, and Support.

Once 3-5 options are identified, it is important to conduct a deeper dive to compare the technologies.  A robust Software Technology Evaluation typically outlines the top recommendation and the reasons why the alternatives were found lacking.  Usually a list of criteria for the technology evaluation is used. Typical criteria include:

• Cost
• License agreement
• Feature set
• Maturity
• Extensibility
• Ease of use
• Security
• Other customers
• Support and community
• SLA

Once the evaluation has been conducted, the development team often needs to buy in and agree to the recommendation, which usually includes a team meeting to review the results and agree upon the findings.

Software Technology Evaluation tools and templates include many kinds of charting software, spreadsheets, or simply a long, horizontal paper that can be drawn on and updated for each of the stages.

Learn more about upBOARD’s full portfolio of online digital best practice tools and templates for specific topics, including business strategy, marketing, human resources, operations, innovation, project management, change management, and software development.

Learn more about upBOARD’s portfolio of other software development best practice tools and templates, including: Bug Log, Software Development Life Cycle Management, Software Development Planning, Software Technology Evaluation, Software Engineering Tools, and JIRA Dashboarding.